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Saturday, 31 January 2015

I had the chance to get along to the Carluke and Law Wargames club on Saturday for the first time in a few months. I've been slowly chipping away painting wise (slow progress is still progress!) but feel I sometimes need to play some games to get me actually going. We agreed on 1750pts. One issue I had was building an army that included unpainted mini's (to spur me on to paint them) - mainly because I've very few things that are assembled and unpainted. I didn't feel I had the time to properly prepare and assemble anything else. As such, I decided to use stand in's - with YD's permission.

I used two Churchill AVsRE to represent two Churchill Crocodiles and 4 x 25-pdrs to represent some 4.2" Mortars. I also cracked open the Forged in Battle Loyds Carriers that are next in the painting queue and a blister pack of Wasp Universal Carriers. My army list ended up looking like this:

A very flamey list! I really did try to go for an assault list to try and get out of my usual play style. I figured the inclusion of Captain John Treleaven would let me have a platoon that passed motivation on a 3+ - a useful inclusion for my Reluctant Vet Jocks.The three infantry platoons would give me staying power. The mortars to provide smoke and pinning. Pioneers for extra assault oomph (and another flamethrower!!!). Machine guns because I like the dinky little MG carriers (and their pinning bombardment ability) and 17-pdrs because the only other anti tank capability on the list consisted of some PIAT's and the 75mm guns on the Crocodiles. I included the half-tracks and transports for all the platoons as I didn't know what mission we would be playing. And the mobility element has been part of the Totalise theme for my Jocks from the beginning. Young David went for a list from Fortress Italy:

From memory this included 2 artillery guns (105's?) + spotter and command, 2 PaK 40's, 4 Panzer IV's (2 long and 2 short barreled). a Tiger, two SPG half tracks, three Infantry platoons and a 2 gun MG42 platoon. Half-tracks for the HQ platoon and for one of the infantry platoons were also included but not in the pictures.

Apologies for the picture quality - they don't don YD's figures justice! I was taking the pics on my ipad for the first time and from a funny angle - resulting in them being upside down and with my shadow on them. We set up a quick table and rolled for a mission. We ended up with Fighting Withdrawal, and as I had the Crocodiles in my list I was on 'Always Attacks' and YD was defending.YD set up first and elected not to have anything in ambush. I deployed second - feeling a little cramped and aware that the dreaded FoW parking lot game table was becoming apparent.My plan was to aim for the objective on my right, using the hill and other cover to close before flaming my troops in. Using the mortars for pinning and smoke are required. On the left I would keep the pressure on with an infantry platoon and the MG platoon, hold the center with an infantry platoon that could also go right should I need them... and generally use the 17-pdrs to screen as much of my force as possible while dealing with the dreaded big cat!

And the plan (sorry, it's just using MS paint and isn't very clear):

But as part 2 will reveal... no plan survives first contact with the enemy!

Wednesday, 28 January 2015

As a pleasant change to working my way through all the infantry and crew figures, I decided to work on my MP's and Ambulance jeeps.

Again, still just block painting. The ambulance jeep will get stuck together once it's all decaled. I forgot about the stowage for these two until I had painted them. Then realised they were a bit bare looking - especially the MP jeep.

Still working on how to present them on their bases, I've ideas for both, but still working out the details. I could do with a non combat posed model for the driver of the ambulance jeep, instead of just having him sitting in (the other model on the base is the medic fireman carrying a wounded Jock up to the jeep). The MP jeep could do with some Jock's marching past, or walking wounded. Neither are models I think I can get!

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Paul has been a massive influence on my painting. He's helped provide me with motivation, support, tools and techniques - as well as being a great font of knowledge about WW2 vehicles. He's lent me books and provided models for some of the big games of 15mm Naps I have played in over the years.

He has recently tried a little experiment with some video blogging showing off some of his work in progress. If you don't follow his blog already, you should!

Slightly later with my roundup of last years work, mainly due to being away over the festive period. Christmas was spent at A's family's house near Middlesbrough, where I received exactly what I asked for from my xmas list model wise... only to find I made a mistake with my list and asked for the wrong type of tanks! D'oh!

So if anyone has any American M3a1 Stuart light tanks they would like to swap for British M3 Honey light tanks, let me know!

Anyway, New Year (or Ne'reday in my native Scots language) was also spent at A's parents. This was a cunning ploy on my behalf, as by that point I had purchased an engagement ring and planned a proposal just after New Year. Thankfully she accepted.

Model wise, I dug out all I have managed to paint this year (apologies for lighting and tablecloth!):

Not really a huge number of mini's! Some of them were quite technical - the picture includes the 3 Sherman I Hybrid conversions from Sherman II's, 2 Sherman Crabs with my own chain flails, Ambulance Half Track and modified Forged in Battle Bofors unit.

In the 'Work In Progress' pile:

These models either need touching up, finishing off or varnishing before highlights. Winter weather has prevented any varnishing. I do have permission to varnish indoors, but I felt my time was better spent finishing block painting models at the moment.

In The 'Oh Sh*t, I've still got a mountain to climb' pile:

The infantry above were purchased from Cameron, along with 3 Universal Carriers. I say purchased, but I still owe the money and have not seen Cameron since. Cameron, if you read this, get in touch! They are painted in a different style than my normal infantry, so will need stripped and re-painted.

In this pile I have a lot of the items I need to finish my 6MMRPC painting chart (and some more on top of that). I still need some Sherman I's and Quad tractors to finish off everything on that chart. I also still need some more armoured cars to finish my recon list, which is a separate project.

So that's the roundup! Gaming wise, I got a couple of games in but not as many as I would like. One of the plans for 2015 (aside from planning for a wedding) is to start trying to acquire some scenery and a green mat/cloth for my kitchen table. I also intend to keep working on the 6MMRP Challenge and once that's done start alternating painting my WW2 models with some of my many, many, many Full Thrust models. Hopefully alongside getting some small regular games of Full Thrust as well.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my engagement post. Those kind responses are a great example of the hobby bringing people together. Those people (that means YOU!) who take the time to read and comment on my posts are one of the great motivators that keep me making my (all be it slow) progress.